Turbulent Flow Produced by Piston Motion in a Spark-ignition Engine

Turbulence produced by the piston motion in spark-ignition engines is studied by 2D axisymmetric numerical simulations in the cylindrical geometry as in the theoretical and experimental work by Breuer et al. (Flow Turbul Combust 74:145, 2005). The simulations are based on the Navier–Stokes gas-dynamic equations including viscosity, thermal conduction and non-slip at the walls. Piston motion is taken into account as a boundary condition. The turbulent flow is investigated for a wide range of the engine speed, 1,000–4,000 rpm, assuming both zero and non-zero initial turbulence. The turbulent rms-velocity and the integral length scale are investigated in axial and radial directions. The rms-turbulent velocity is typically an order-of-magnitude smaller than the piston speed. In the case of zero initial turbulence, the flow at the top-dead-center may be described as a combination of two large-scale vortex rings of a size determined by the engine geometry. When initial turbulence is strong, then the integral turbulent length demonstrates self-similar properties in a large range of crank angles. The results obtained agree with the experimental observations of Breuer et al. (Flow Turbul Combust 74:145, 2005).     

Non-Local Interactions and Feedback Instability in a High Reynolds Number Flow

The question of non-locality is considered for a model supersonic flow at high Reynolds number in a channel formed between two parallel plates of different length, using the channel length as a control parameter. Examples are given of time-periodic stable and unstable flows forced by a disturbance positioned in the middle of the channel. It is shown that in certain parameter ranges the flow in a channel of ever increasing length is not approximated by the solutions obtained for infinitely long channels. This is interpreted in terms of a feedback interaction between the flow near the channel ends and the disturbance source. Feedback is shown to result from a slow upstream decay of disturbances coupled with a relatively fast downstream growth of instability waves. For a free (non-forced) flow, the feedback is found to lead to a form of global or resonant instability. Examples of growth rate calculations for the feedback modes are given.     

Large Eddy Simulation of Diesel Fuel Injection and Mixing in a HSDI Engine

The paper aims to assess the performance of large eddy simulation (LES) in predicting the unsteady reacting flows in internal combustion engines. The incompatibility due to the turbulence dissipation was avoided in the k-equation LES formulation. Two versions of the LES have been tested with different filtering. The cell-specific filtering was found to give realistic prediction of the instantaneous temperature and pressure field during the combustion process. The coupling of combustion heat release, temperature field and turbulent flow field was found to be strong in the LES predicted flow and combustion fields which showed wrinkled flame structures. The formulation gives improved agreement with available experimental data.     

夹层动脉瘤及覆膜支架模型的流固耦合分析

腹主动脉瘤腹主动脉瘤(Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm,AAA)是危及病人生命的严重疾病,若主动脉瘤不加以治疗,瘤腔将不断长大而有破裂的危险,尽管目前对主动脉瘤的研究较多,但对主动脉夹层动脉瘤(Aortic Dissecting Aneruysm,ADA)的研究较少,本文在周期性脉动速度和压力条件下,对DNA内部流场及植入覆膜支架进行了流固耦合的数值模拟.得到了夹层动脉瘤内部流场的速度矢量分布,瘤壁上的位移、应力分布.同时对夹层动脉瘤植入覆膜支架前后进行了对比分析,覆膜支架的植入使得瘤壁上的最大应力和最大位移均从瘤腔壁面转移到管状动脉壁上,且数值大大下降,说明植入覆膜支架能很好的防止夹层动脉瘤破裂.     

A Direct Numerical Study of Transport and Anisotropy in a Stably Stratified Turbulent Flow with Uniform Horizontal Shear

Direct numerical simulations of homogeneous turbulence in stably stratified shear flow have been performed to aid the understanding of turbulence and turbulent mixing in geophysical flow. Two cases are compared. In the first case, which has been studied in the past, the mean velocity has vertical shear and the mean density is vertically stably stratified. In the second case, which has not been studied systematically before, the mean velocity has horizontal shear and the mean density is again vertically stably stratified. The critical value of the gradient Richardson number, for which a constant turbulence level is obtained, is found to be an order of magnitude larger in the horizontal shear case. The turbulent transport coefficients of momentum and vertical mass transfer are also an order of magnitude larger in the horizontal shear case. The anisotropy of the turbulence intensities are found to be in the range expected of flows with mean shear with no major qualitative change in the range of Richardson numbers studied here. However, the anisotropy of the turbulent dissipation rate is strongly affected by stratification with the vertical component dominating the others. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Large-eddy Simulation of Motored Flow in a Two-valve Piston Engine: POD Analysis and Cycle-to-cycle Variations

Large-eddy simulation (LES) has been performed for a single-cylinder, two-valve, four-stroke-cycle piston engine through 70 consecutive motored cycles. Initial comparisons of ensemble-averaged velocity fields have been made between LES and experiment, and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) has been used to analyze the complex in-cylinder turbulent flows. Convergence of POD modes has been quantified, several POD variants have been explored, and sensitivity of results to analyzing different subsets of engine cycles has been studied. In general, it has been found that conclusions that were drawn earlier from POD analysis of a simplified non-compressing piston-cylinder assembly with a fixed valve carry over to the much more complex flow in this motored four-stroke-cycle engine. For the cases that have been examined, the first POD mode essentially corresponds to the ensemble-averaged mean velocity. The number of engine cycles required to extract converged POD modes increases with mode number, and varies with phase (piston position). There is little change in the lower-order phase-invariant POD modes when as few as 24 phases per cycle (30° between samples) are used, and complex 3-D time-dependent in-cylinder velocity fields through full engine cycles can be reconstructed using a relatively small number of POD modes. Quantification of cycle-to-cycle variations and insight into in-cylinder flow dynamics can be extracted through analysis of phase-invariant POD modes and coefficients.     

Spray features in the near field of a flow-blurring injector investigated by high-speed visualization and time-resolved PIV

In a flow-blurring (FB) injector, atomizing air stagnates and bifurcates at the gap upstream of the injector orifice. A small portion of the air penetrates into the liquid supply line to create a turbulent two-phase flow. Pressure drop across the injector orifice causes air bubbles to expand and burst thereby disintegrating the surrounding liquid into a fine spray. In previous studies, we have demonstrated clean and stable combustion of alternative liquid fuels, such as biodiesel, straight vegetable oil and glycerol by using the FB injector without requiring fuel pre-processing or combustor hardware modification. In this study, high-speed visualization and time-resolved particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques are employed to investigate the FB spray in the near field of the injector to delineate the underlying mechanisms of atomization. Experiments are performed using water as the liquid and air as the atomizing gas for air to liquid mass ratio of 2.0. Flow visualization at the injector exit focused on a field of view with physical dimensions of 2.3 mm × 1.4 mm at spatial resolution of 7.16 µm per pixel, exposure time of 1 µs, and image acquisition rate of 100 k frames per second. Image sequences illustrate mostly fine droplets indicating that the primary breakup by FB atomization likely occurs within the injector itself. A few larger droplets appearing mainly at the injector periphery undergo secondary breakup by Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities. Time-resolved PIV is applied to quantify the droplet dynamics in the injector near field. Plots of instantaneous, mean, and root-mean-square droplet velocities are presented to reveal the secondary breakup process. Results show that the secondary atomization to produce fine and stable spray is complete within a few diameters from the injector exit. These superior characteristics of the FB injector are attractive to achieve clean combustion of different fuels in practical systems.     

Experiments and Simulations of <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-Heptane Spray Auto-Ignition in a Closed Combustion Chamber at Diesel Engine Conditions

Auto-igniting n-heptane sprays have been studied experimentally in a high pressure, high temperature constant volume combustion chamber with optical access. Ignition delay and the total pressure increase due to combustion are highly repeatable whereas the ignition location shows substantial fluctuations. Simulations have subsequently been performed by means of a first-order fully elliptic Conditional Moment Closure (CMC) code. Overall, the simulations are in good agreement with the experiment in terms of spray evolution, ignition delay and the pressure development. The sensitivity of the predictions with respect to the measured initial conditions, the spray modelling options as well as the chemical mechanism employed have been analysed. Strong sensitivity on the chemical mechanism and to the initial temperature on the predicted ignition delay is reported. The primary atomisation model did not affect strongly the predicted auto-ignition time, but a strong influence was found on the ignition location prediction.     

Turbulent Flow and Dispersion of Inertial Particles in a Confined Jet Issued by a Long Cylindrical Pipe

In this work we examine first the flow field of a confined jet produced by a turbulent flow in a long cylindrical pipe issuing in an abrupt angle diffuser. Second, we examine the dispersion of inertial micro-particles entrained by the turbulent flow. Specifically, we examine how the particle dispersion field evolves in the multiscale flow generated by the interactions between the large-scale structures, which are geometry dependent, with the smaller turbulent scales issued by the pipe which are advected downstream. We use Large-Eddy-Simulation (LES) for the flow field and Lagrangian tracking for particle dispersion. The complex shape of the domain is modelled using the immersed-boundaries method. Fully developed turbulence inlet conditions are derived from an independent LES of a spatially periodic cylindrical pipe flow. The flow field is analyzed in terms of local velocity signals to determine spatial coherence and decay rate of the coherent K–H vortices and to make quantitative comparisons with experimental data on free jets. Particle dispersion is analyzed in terms of statistical quantities and also with reference to the dynamics of the coherent structures. Results show that the particle dynamics is initially dominated by the Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) rolls which form at the expansion and only eventually by the advected smaller turbulence scales.     

Flow structure and skin friction in the vicinity of a streamwise-angled injection hole fed by a short pipe

The velocity field and skin friction distribution around a row of five jets issuing into a crossflow from short (L/D ≃ 1) pipes inclined by 35° with respect to the streamwise direction, (i.e., “short holes”) are presented for two different jet supply flow directions. Velocity was measured using PIV, while the skin friction was measured with oil-film interferometry. The flow features are compared with previously published data for jets issuing through holes oriented normal to the crossflow and with numerical simulations of similar geometries. The distinguishing features of the flow field include a reduced recirculation region in comparison to the 90° case and markedly different in-hole flow physics. The jetting process caused by in-hole separations force the bulk of the jet fluid to issue from the leading half of the streamwise-angled injection hole, as previously reported by Brundage et al. (Tech Rep ASME 99-GT-35, 1999) and predicted by Walters and Leylek (ASME J Turbomach 122:101–112, 2000). The flow structure impacts the skin friction distribution around the holes, resulting in higher near-hole shear stress for a counter-flow supply plenum (jet fluid supplied by a high speed plenum flowing opposite to the free stream direction). In contrast, the counter-flow supply plenum was previously found to have the lowest near-hole wall shear stress for normal injection holes (Peterson and Plesniak in Exp Fluids 37:497–503, 2004b). Streamwise-angled injection generally reduces the near-hole skin friction due to the reduced jet trajectory resulting from the lower wall-normal jet momentum. Far downstream, the skin friction distributions are similar for the two injection angle cases.     

The Effect of Fuel-Injection Timing on In-cylinder Flow and Combustion Performance in a Spark-Ignition Direct-Injection (SIDI) Engine Using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)

This study applies particle image velocimetry (PIV) to an optical spark-ignition direct-injection engine in order to investigate the effects of fuel-injection on in-cylinder flow. Five injection timing combinations, each employing a stoichiometric 1:1 split ratio double-injection strategy, were analysed at an engine speed of 1200 RPM and an intake pressure of 100 kPa. Timings ranged from two injections in the intake stroke to two injections in the compression stroke, resulting in a variety of in-cylinder environments from well-mixed to highly turbulent. PIV images were acquired at a sampling frequency of 5 kHz on a selected swirl plane. The flow fields were decomposed into mean and fluctuating components via two spatial filtering approaches — one using a fixed 8 mm cut-off length, and the other using a mean flow speed scaled cut-off length which was tuned in order to match the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) profile of a 300 Hz temporal filter. From engine performance tests, the in-cylinder pressure traces, indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), and combustion phasing data showed very high sensitivity to injection timing variations. To explain the observed trend, correspondence between the measured flow and these performance parameters was evaluated. An expected global trend of increasing turbulence with retarded injection timing was clearly observed; however, relationships between TKE and burn rate were not as obvious as anticipated, suggesting that turbulence is not the predominant factor associated with injection timing variations which impacts engine performance. Stronger links were observed between bulk flow velocity and burn rate, particularly during the early stages of flame development. Injection timing was also found to have a significant impact on combustion stability, where it was observed that low-frequency flow fluctuation intensity revealed strong similarities with the coefficient of variance (CoV) of IMEP, suggesting that these fluctuations are a suitable measure of cycle-to-cycle variation — likely due to the influence of bulk flow on flame kernel development.     

Effects of Viscous Dissipation and Flow Work on Forced Convection in a Channel Filled by a Saturated Porous Medium

Fully developed forced convection in a parallel plate channel filled by a saturated porous medium, with walls held either at uniform temperature or at uniform heat flux, with the effects of viscous dissipation and flow work included, is treated analytically. The Brinkman model is employed. The analysis leads to expressions for the Nusselt number, as a function of the Darcy number and Brinkman number.     

Stability of the Flow in a Streaky Structure and the Development of Perturbations Generated by a Point Source Inside It

The flow stability in a boundary layer with an inhomogeneous spanwise-periodic velocity profile modeling the streaky structure that develops at a high level of turbulence of the incident flow is analyzed in the three-dimensional formulation for perturbations with an arbitrary transverse period. It is shown that in the presence of inhomogeneity the dispersion relation for the Tollmien-Schlichting waves is split into two branches periodic in the transverse wave number, which correspond to symmetric and antisymmetric modes. The solution for the packet of inhomogeneous-flow modes generated by localized time-periodic fluid injection/ejection is found. The shape of this packet corresponds qualitatively to the shape of the Tollmien-Schlichting wave packet, but the fine perturbation structure inside it is sharply different.     

Near-Wake Turbulence Properties in the High Reynolds Number Incompressible Flow Around a Circular Cylinder Measured by Two- and Three-Component PIV

The main objective of the present experimental study is to analyse the turbulence properties in unsteady flows around bluff body wakes and to provide a database for improvement and validation of turbulence models, concerning the present class of non-equilibrium flows. The flow around a circular cylinder with a low aspect ratio () and a high blockage coefficient () is investigated. This confined environment is used in order to allow direct comparisons with realisable 3D Navier–Stokes computations avoiding ‘infinite’ conditions. The flow is investigated in the critical regime at Reynolds number 140,000. A cartography of the velocity fields in the near wake of the cylinder is obtained by PIV and Stereoscopic PIV techniques. Statistical means and phase-averaged quantities are determined. Furthermore, POD analysis is performed on the data set in order to extract coherent structures of the flow and to compare the results with those obtained by the conditional sampling technique. The Reynolds stresses, the strain-rate and vorticity fields as well as the turbulence production terms are determined.     

Comments on 'Finite Element Analysis of Convection Flow Through a Porous Medium in a Horizontal Channel' by D. V. Krishna,D. R. V. Prasada Rao and V. Sugunamma

Transport in Porous Media -     

Response to Comment on “Combined Forced and Free Convective Flow in a Vertical Porous Channel: The Effects of Viscous Dissipation and Pressure Work” by A. Barletta and D. A. Nield,Transport in Porous Media,DOI 10.1007/s11242-008-9320-y, 2009

This short note is a response to the comment on our recently published paper cited in the title. All points raised by the author of the comment are discussed. It is shown that one of the remarks, concerning eigenflow solutions in the limiting case of forced convection, does not have a sound physical basis. In fact, it refers to a circumstance, a fluid with a thermal expansion coefficient greater than that of a perfect gas, of marginal or no interest in the framework of convection in porous media.